Mk 7:31-37
Be opened: Mark has skillfully taken a healing story and woven a tapestry out of it. The healing takes place in Gentile territory. By portraying Jesus as healing a Gentile, Mark is continuing his justification for the early Church’s mission to the Gentiles.
Jesus has been teaching the crowds and his disciples, who never seem to understand what he is telling them. Now, Mark presents a deaf man—one who cannot hear, but who does understand—in contrast to those who can hear and do not understand. A person, no matter whether he or she is Jewish or Gentile, is capable of hearing the word of God and responding positively to it.
Jesus takes the man off by himself, away from the crowd before the healing takes place. For Mark, conversion and faith are personal matters between the individual and Jesus.
The response of the crowd, which finds out about the healing, is to “proclaim” this deed. Once one has been converted and comes to faith, one cannot help but proclaim it to others. Therefore, the deaf man’s speech impediment has also been healed.